sd card(s) not visible on n66u

[PeterPasm]

Hi

I just opened my router and installed a brand new sd card, but it won't show up anywhere. I can't mount it or fdisk it via telnet (no media present), nor it shows as a usb disk in the web interface. The card supposed to slide in upside down right? (well, that's the only way I can plug it in, so I guess that's right)

I already tried 3 cards (two 32gb and 1 16gb which are all worked fine in tablets and PCs. One 32GB even proven to be dead after I removed it from the router (it's not killing the other two, but it killed the third one sadly)

I would really need to get this working because I get terrible transfer speeds with the USB disk if I don't use NTFS, which I can't now because of entware.

I'm using Merlin's 38_1 fw. What am I doing wrong? Anyone can help here please?

 

[RMerlin]

Check the System Log to see if it detects it at boot time (look for anything referring to sd).

 

[PeterPasm]

Check the System Log to see if it detects it at boot time (look for anything referring to sd).

Thank you Merlin for the reply. I do not see anything helpful sadly. Please check, maybe you do.

Thanks
Peter

 

[RMerlin]

According to the log, it does see the device (sda), but doesn't mount it. Check its formatting (N66U only supports FAT32, NTFS, ext2 and ext3) and its partition table (if you had partitionned it).

 

[PeterPasm]

According to the log, it does see the device (sda), but doesn't mount it. Check its formatting (N66U only supports FAT32, NTFS, ext2 and ext3) and its partition table (if you had partitionned it).

Yes, I saw that it's there, but I don't know how to mount it, or why isn't it showing up. I formatted it with gparted just like how I formatted my my external usb drive to ext2. I also reformatted it under windows to FAT32 and to NTFS too for now, just to see if there are any difference, but no use.

I see nothing wrong in the log, yet I see no drive either.

 

[L&LD]

What type of SD cards are you using? You may be using a card that is not supported - like an SDXC vs. SDHC, for example.

 

[PeterPasm]

What type of SD cards are you using? You may be using a card that is not supported - like an SDXC vs. SDHC, for example.

Samsung 16GB microSDHC CL6 (MB-MSAGBA), Samsung 32GB microSDHC CL6 (MB-MSBGBA), Sandisk 32GB microSDHC CL10 (SDSDQX-032G).

 

[PeterPasm]

Sorry to bump this, but anybody else has any idea what could I try to make the sdcard work somehow? I know that RMerlin and L&LD already tried, which I'm grateful for of course, but perhaps somebody else has some other ideas I could also try. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Peter

 

[tcn]

Have you tried in a command shell (through telnet or ssh)? I would try to create a partition and format it from within the router.


tcn

 

[PeterPasm]

Have you tried in a command shell (through telnet or ssh)? I would try to create a partition and format it from within the router.


tcn

Hi

Thanks for the reply. The problem is that I can't see the card at all, even if the syslog says I should. I can partition and see the card in PC, tablet, or any other device just fine, the card is healthy and has no problems.

this is what I get:

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-N66U_3.0.0.4 Sun Jan 12 19:29:01 UTC 2014
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# fdisk -l /dev/sdb
fdisk: can't open '/dev/sdb': No medium found
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# fdisk /dev/sdb
fdisk: can't open '/dev/sdb'
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/mnt# mkfs.ext2 /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.42.8 (20-Jun-2013)
Could not stat /dev/sdb1 --- No such file or directory

The device apparently does not exist; did you specify it correctly?

It supposed to be "sdb" now because I also have my hard drive plugged in at the moment (attached new log to clarify).

I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong:/

 

[RMerlin]

Actually based on the log, I think it sees the reader but not the card itself, otherwise the brand and model of the card would also show in the log. Instead, it only sees a removable USB disk, which is the reader itself.

Does the card properly "click" after you inserted it?

There's a chance the recent USB hub support could have broken support for it, but that would surprise me (there was no kernel level change, and right now your issue is at the kernel, not the firmware level).

There's also a chance the reader is simply not functioning, either due to a hardware revision from Asus, or it's defective and since it's not an official feature of the router it's not being tested.

 

[PeterPasm]

The card does not click in, there is no spring mechanism I can tell about, well I feel none whatsoever, it just slides in and very hard to get out, but I can see that all the fins are touching the card pins. Do you think the slot if faulty and the click would actually close a circuit? The Router is brand new (rev 3.20) the series which also as the loose UTP plugs, what I just noticed, today, but it's too late since the opening killed my warranty.

Looks like there is no hope for me, perhaps my mood will change but I can't really see myself buying an other Asus router again. I wanted the best and only got problems and troubles :/

Thank you very much everybody for your time and for all your help on this.

 

[RMerlin]

The card does not click in, there is no spring mechanism I can tell about, well I feel none whatsoever, it just slides in and very hard to get out, but I can see that all the fins are touching the card pins. Do you think the slot if faulty and the click would actually close a circuit? The Router is brand new (rev 3.20) the series which also as the loose UTP plugs, what I just noticed, today, but it's too late since the opening killed my warranty.

Looks like there is no hope for me, perhaps my mood will change but I can't really see myself buying an other Asus router again. I wanted the best and only got problems and troubles :/

Thank you very much everybody for your time and for all your help on this.

The SD card should definitely click. When you press it a second time it will click once more, and be released from the slot through a spring.

 

[RMerlin]

If you do have one of the model that has the Ethernet jack issues, try sending an Email to Networking_Support <at> asus.com. Tell them about the Ethernet jack issue, and also that you had opened the router to insert the sdcard, and ask them if they would still accept to replace it. Be sure to also provide your serial number.

With any luck they might accept to replace it anyway.

 

[PeterPasm]

Yes I was too gentle I think. I moved the card sideways a little before inserting, there was a click and now there is a spring mechanism finally, but it still won't click in.
Perhaps it was a faulty slot and it was jammed, but the card won't stay in now, it pushes itself out, so the fins are not touching the pins anymore unless I keep it in with my finger.

Thank you very much again, I will try to contact support and see what they might say.

 

[L&LD]

Did you try to flip the card around and insert it (flip top to bottom, not end to end)?

 

[tcn]

The contacts are up. I don't think one could insert a uSD card in a slot the wrong way (because of the shape) but he may just have a point there...

 

[PeterPasm]

Did you try to flip the card around and insert it (flip top to bottom, not end to end)?

The contacts are up. I don't think one could insert a uSD card in a slot the wrong way (because of the shape) but he may just have a point there...

I did not put it in upside down, the only way I was able to insert the card was the correct way. First I had an impression it's a slot like what they have in those usb card readers, which have no spring mechanism.
I don't recall ever having problems inserting an sd-card before, I think it's just a faulty slot.

 

[tcn]

If the card doesn't stay in, I agree with the faulty holder.... You could visually inspect the card holder for damage but from what I remember, it is pretty closed and won't reveal much.

You could try to hold it there while the unit is powered on to see if the unit sees the insertion. If it does and Asus doesn't want the unit back because it has been opened, you could disable the spring mechanism and put a drop of hot glue in front of the card to hold it in place.....